Highlights from Today's Grocery Trip

Today's grocery trip went very well.  I won't list everything, but here are some of the highlights of what we got today.

Sam's Club:
2 pounds of blueberries for $5.98
2 pounds of strawberries for $3.98
72 slices of Kraft Singles Cheese for $7.98 (Lasts our family approximately a month)
2 gallons of milk (does not contain artificial growth hormones) for $2.49 a piece

Walmart:
 4 cans of frozen Old Orchard juice at $1.57 a piece.  I had a coupon from coupons.com for $1 off of  4 making them $1.32 a piece.
2 Children's Brita Water Bottles at $7.88.  Each one had a $3 coupon with it making them $4.88 a piece.

Shaws:
Shaws is having major sales this week because they are getting rid of their Shaws card.
1 case of coke or sprite for $0.99 if you turn in your shaws card.
4 cases of soda (coke, sprite, sunkist) at $2.00 a piece
1 Hellman's Mayo on sale for $2.99 plus a coupon for $1 from the Sunday paper inserts, making it $1.99
1 whole seedless watermelon regularly $7.99, on sale for $3.99
1.82 pounds of cherries on sale for $2.88 a pound - savings of $5.24
4 ears of corn at $0.19 a piece - savings of $1.44
B1G1 Ballpark Hotdogs
B1G1 Hillshire Farm Kielbasa
3.48 pounds Chicken Drumsticks at $0.99 a pound - savings of $ 2.43 making it $5.88
2.25 pounds of 85% lean ground beef at 2.99 a pound - savings of $2.25 making it $8.98
B1G1 Coppertone Sunscreen plus a coupon from the Sunday paper for $5 off of 2 making the children's sunscreen free and the adult sunscreen $6.49
A-1 Steak Sauce regularly $4.49 was on sale for $2.50.  With the $1.00 off coupon from coupons.com it was $1.50

Michaels:

A sheet of adhesive magnet to finish my diy chore chart regularly $10.99.  I had a 40% off of one regular priced item making it $6.60

Old Navy:

A tanktop for me for $2.00, regularly $8.50

 

Children and Trucking - Staying Connected

One of our biggest issues in truck driving was finding a way to keep our children connected with their father. My preschooler is very, very much a daddy's girl. Her first adjustment was going from being home with Daddy all the time because he was unemployed to Daddy being a student at a trucking company and being gone for 2 months. My daughter was only about 18 months at the time so she did not understand why Daddy wasn't home. She would fuss and act out which really pulled on my heart strings. The first week was by far the worst. People suggested having a pillow or blanket made with Daddy's picture, letting her sleep with a shirt he had worn, using a picture to make a cardboard cutout of Daddy. We finally found that the best thing was for her to talk to Daddy every night. A picture of Daddy comes up in my phone when we call so the kids can connect Daddy's face and voice. We know that taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep is very important in trucking, so talking to the kids isn't always a reality. For those nights when Daddy couldn't talk we had a prerecorded voice-mail that would let them know he was thinking of them and that he would talk to them as soon as he could. Our preschooler will also leave Daddy voice-mails if she cannot talk to him that day. It is extremely important to her to be able to tell her daddy all the highlights of her day. How do your children stay connected?

Lets Start at the Beginning

Over three years ago our little family went from the average regular routine family life style to being at the mercy of the trucking industry. Like most family's in today's day and age truck driving has become a saving grace to me and so many others. Where so many men and women of all ages have found work that does not discriminate. As the head of my house hold when three years ago I was sent into a tail spin when laid off from a steady job of many years. Unemployment was the first stop in the journey for this family as for many other drivers I know. Unemployment has great programs if your willing to jump through the hoops that they require. If driving is the ideal fit for you then it won't be hard at all for you to navigate all the red tape that is in place to keep the unmotivated from moving forward. For me, before I even got started down this road I did a little home work in this area. Everyone knows that doing your homework isn't a whole lot of fun, but in the truck driving world trust me it's a good idea to have some idea or what to expect. My personal favorite was The book the Truth About Truck Driving. This book was written by a man in the industry of truck driving. As a Driver himself Aubrey Allen Smith wrote this incredible book that I must say is a great place to start for any new driver or even drivers of a couple of years that seem to still be missing something. There isn't one thing in this man's book that I haven't found to be true. From companies to dispatchers he was right on the money. You may find his book and lots of other useful info at the following site:  http://www.truthabouttrucking.com/ As my wife and I move forward with this blog as it is a team effort to keep the house going I'm sure we will find lots of things to add, and talk about on here. The point of this blog is to help other families navigate down the road of truck driving and coping with the good weeks and the bad. So keep those wheels turning and safe travels to all you drivers and soon to be drivers out there.